Not one to let Ford sit around and bask in the media and sales spotlight, Chrysler is giving its 2013 Ram 1500 a heart transplant as well. In this case, instead of the tired old 3.7-liter V6 that has soldiered on as the base engine in the Ram 1500 for far too long, it has been replaced by Chrysler's corporate V6: the 3.6-liter Pentastar.

Whereas the old 3.7-liter engine produced 215hp and 235 lb-ft of torque, the Pentastar V6 blows those numbers out of the water with 305hp and 269 lb-ft of torque. For comparison, Ford's based 3.7-liter V6 engine in the F-150 generates 300hp and 275 lb-ft of torque.

3.6-liter Pentastar V6

Despite the massive increase in power and torque, fuel economy has also gone up significantly with the new Pentastar V6. Fuel economy numbers increase from 14/20 (city/highway) with the old 3.7 to 18/25 with the new 3.6 in 4x2 trim (these figures are also ahead of the 3.7-liter V6 in the Ford F-150 which is rated at 17/23).

It also helps that the '13 Ram 1500 makes use of a new 8-speed automatic transmission to help boost fuel efficiency.

Even though the V6 doesn't have as much "grunt" as the Hemi V8 option, Inside Line says that the Ram 1500's new base engine is enough to propel the pickup to 60 mph in just 7.5 seconds.

2013 Dodge Ram 1500

All of this newfangled technology doesn't come for free, however. The '13 Ram 1500 with the Pentastar V6 and 8-speed automatic transmission starts at $23,585 compared to $22,420 for the '12 Ram 1500 with the 3.7-liter V6 and 4-speed automatic transmission.

With both Ford and Chrysler stepping up to the plate with power and efficiency for the full-size pickups, all eyes should now be on General Motors and its Silverado 1500/Sierra 1500.

quote: ...it's a U.S. disgrace to not be selling all trucks with clean, fuel efficient turbo Diesel engines - as the rest of the world uses.

is an ignorant argument. The fuel market in the US is very different than in the rest of the world. Passenger vehicles with diesel engines are fighting with aircraft, jet fuel is from the same part of refining as diesel. Then you have trains which are the single largest consumer of diesel in the US which are followed by semi-trucks. You do not have that combination of demand on jet/diesel anywhere else. So in the US there is room for only a few diesel powered passenger vehicles before the ROR goes south.

One problem we have right now with gasoline is US demand is down relative to diesel. Instead of lower gas prices refiners are shipping it overseas.

The other major problem is the incredible difficulty to build or expand refining capacity. Hence, the Richmond Ca plant breaks because it operates near max capacity 24-7. All the other plants are experiencing similar loads. So there is no domestic production capacity left to cover Richmond's hole. Gas prices went up over 20 cents in just over a week.